Four girls, ranging in age from eight to 12 years-old, hoped to raise $100 for Dallas police by selling lemonade in their neighborhood, but they didn’t factor in a huge outpouring of support for the men in blue that netted them $10,000 in just two days!
NBC in Dallas/Fort Worth is reporting on the story of 12 year-old Lauren Roach and her friend Landry Nelon, 11, who wanted to do something to help the families of the police officers who were gunned down by a sniper during the July 7 protest in Dallas. Along with their friends, Emmy Roberts, 9, and Lily Roberts, 8, they decided to set up a lemonade stand with the hopes of raising $100 for the police.
“We felt really bad for all the victims’ families,” Lauren told NBC. “At first we thought we would get about $100, but after we got to about $5,000, we realized we could really get this really high.”
“We just really feel that every little penny counted,” Landry added.
“People were just driving by,” said Lauren’s mother, Tracey Roach. “They didn’t want lemonade, they didn’t want anything, just giving them 20s, 50s, you name it, just giving money. And everybody saying, ‘Back the blue, back the blue, we support Dallas, we support families, help Dallas become a better place.'”
At the end of the day, they turned over a check for $10,000 to Dallas police.
Thus far, the Dallas Police Association (DPA) reports that they have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations for the victims of last week’s deadly shooting. Southwest Airlines donated $75,000 and the Houston police department gave $20,000.
Dallas police said they were touched by the overwhelming show of support.
“It’s unbelievably moving,” said DPA First Vice President Fred Frazier. “You know, you break down at night, when you start thinking about everything when everybody’s gone. But when you go back to work, you’re so busy, your mind just has to go back to work. We’ll heal. It’s just going to take some time.”
As for Lauren, Landry, Emmy and Lily, they’re just happy to be a part of the effort to bring this much needed healing to their hurting community.
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